Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that if the Israeli military doesn’t remove Hamas the United States and Europe could be next, in what could be seen as an attempt to galvanize support for Israel in the West.
“You know what, for the sake of Gazans who’ve been held by this dark tyranny that has brutalized and brought them nothing but bloodshed and poverty and misery,” the prime minister added. “We have to win to protect Israel. We have to win to safeguard the Middle East. We have to win for the sake of the civilized world. That’s the battle we’re fighting, and it’s being waged right now. There is no substitute for that victory.”
Later in the interview, Mr. Netanyahu said that “if we don’t win now, then Europe is next and you’re next. And we have to win.” At the same time, he characterized the Israel–Hamas conflict, which erupted on Oct. 7 after a series of Hamas terrorist attacks, claiming that the group wants to take the West “back to the Dark Ages.”
“Who’s going to win? Are the good guys going to win or the bad guys are going to win? And, of course, we have to make sure that the forces of good, the forces of peace, the forces of progress and prosperity, they win, and not the forces that take us back to the Dark Ages. That’s the battle,” he said.
Responding to a number of pro-Palestinian protests at U.S. universities in recent weeks, he said they do not represent the majority of Americans or their viewpoints.
“We’re not going to be pressed by these demonstrations. We’re going to do what’s right and win this war for our sake, for the sake of humanity and civilization,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
Following Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed, Israel’s allies have defended the country’s right to protect itself. But now into the second month of war, there are growing differences over how Israel should conduct its fight.
But the prime minister has publicly rejected a growing number of international calls for a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. A cease-fire would be possible only if all 239 hostages held by terrorists in Gaza are released, Mr. Netanyahu said in a televised speech.
The Israeli leader also said that after the war, now entering its sixth week, Gaza would be demilitarized and Israel would retain security control there. Asked what he meant by security control, Mr. Netanyahu said Israeli forces must be able to enter Gaza freely to hunt down terrorists.
He also rejected the idea that the Palestinian Authority, which currently administers autonomous areas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would at some stage control Gaza. Both positions run counter to post-war scenarios floated by Israel’s closest ally, the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the United States opposes an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and envisions a unified Palestinian government in both Gaza and the West Bank at some stage as a step toward Palestinian statehood.
Israel’s military has said soldiers have encountered hundreds of Hamas fighters in underground facilities, schools, mosques, and clinics during the fighting. Israel has said a key goal of the war is to crush Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years.
Other Details
Earlier this week, Mr. Netanyahu fielded questions on CNN about whether he would take some responsibility for security breaches that allowed for the Oct. 7 attack to occur.
“We’re going to answer all these questions,” the Israeli leader told the outlet, adding, “Right now, I think what we have to do is unite the country for one purpose; to achieve victory.”
This week, the Department of Defense (DOD) confirmed that U.S. forces struck Iran-backed forces and sites in eastern Syria. That’s the third time in less than a week that the United States has targeted sites in Syria.
“U.S. military forces conducted precision strikes today on facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-affiliated groups in response to continued attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria,” Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
He added that those “strikes were conducted against a training facility and a safe house near the cities of Albu Kamal and Mayadeen, respectively.”
